Abstract #2123

Sulai N, Shen Q, Duong T

fMRI studies in awake and behaving animals could offer many unique advantages. We demonstrated herein that BOLD and CBF fMRI responses under awake conditions are reasonably robust by using three well-established forepaw electrical stimulation model. Larger BOLD percent changes were observed under awake conditions compared to the anesthetized conditions. Most importantly, activations were observed in additional brain structures (predominantly in the subcortical regions and higher order functions) that were not detected in the anesthetized preparations. This study demonstrated the ability to do fMRI under awake conditions, which will have important value in many applications.